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Updated 09.21.09
The ACLU envisions a free, safe and just society, where civil liberties
are secure for all. Throughout our history, we have worked on
behalf of people of color to ensure that constitutional protections are
extended to all citizens and that opportunities for education,
employment, legal representation and political participation are not
denied on the basis of race.
What's Happening in Ohio
Racial disparity of drug arrests
The ACLU of Ohio is a founding member
Citizens for a Safe & Fair
Cleveland, a coalition created to work
towards unbiased law enforcement and judicial equity as related
to drug laws.
In 2008, the coalition commissioned a study by Professor Mona Lynch of San
Jose State University to examine the selective enforcement of drug laws
in Cuyahoga County.
Selective Enforcement of Drug Laws in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: A
Report on the Racial Effects of Geographic Disparities in Arrest
Patterns finds that African Americans and other minorities in
the city of Cleveland are more often charged with felony drug possession
than their suburban peers.
Using the report as a resource, the coalition successfully lobbied Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to
change the city's procedure for handling drug paraphernalia cases to reflect those followed by greater Cuyahoga County.
Read the editorial from
the Cleveland Plain Dealer regarding
the importance of realistic drug policy for Cleveland.
The Sentencing Project’s May 2008 report,
Disparity by Geography: The War on Drugs in America’s Cities
includes a profile of Columbus, Ohio. The study found that drug arrests
of black individuals in Ohio has increased by 293% since 1980, compared to a
41% decrease in white drug arrests.
Racial disparity in Ohio’s jail and prison
populations
The
2000 census reported that 85% (9,645,453) of Ohio residents are white,
while 11.5% (1,301,307) are African American. Yet in Ohio’s prisons, the
inmate population is 51.83% white and 45.75% black. The ACLU of Ohio is
working to bring an end to racial disparity in Ohio’s jails and prisons.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction reports statistical
information annually:
Commitment Reports
Annual Reports
Annual Jail Reports
The Job Prescription: Examining Pervasive Joblessness Among
African-American Men, published by Policy Bridge, includes a
discussion of Ohio’s statistics.
Report card for Ohio's juvenile justice system
The ACLU, the ACLU of Ohio, the Children's Law Center and the Office of the Ohio Public Defender released a
report card in February 2009, grading the state in five subjects: waiver of counsel, shackling of juveniles, juveniles tried as adults, detention and commitment rates and disproportionate minority confinement.
Racial disparity in juvenile detention centers
Black youths in Ohio are more likely to be seen in juvenile court and
more likely to be detained in a juvenile facility than any other group
of young people. The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Fairness
and Equity publishes
statistics documenting racial disparity in Ohio’s youth detention
centers.
Similarly, the
Urban Poverty and Social Change Center at Case Western Reserve
University
reports disproportionate minority confinement among
juveniles.
Resources
What
to Do if You Are Stopped by the Police
Click here for 4-up layout (two-sided,
4 cards per sheet)
The national ACLU's
Racial Justice Program provides news and resources on
racial profiling,
affirmative action,
criminal justice, and
education.
Read
The Persistence of Racial and Ethnic Profiling in the United
States: A Follow-Up Report to the U.N. Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a 2009 report by the
ACLU and the Rights Working Group
Read ACLU's 2009 report
Policing In Schools: Developing A Governance Document For School
Resource Officers In K-12 Schools.
See video footage and materials from the
Challenging the School to Prison Pipeline: Harms and Remedies conference co-hosted by the ACLU Racial Justice Program and the New York Law School
Read ACLU's 2007 report
Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice.
Read the ACLU report
A Bond Forged in Struggle: The ACLU's Historic Alliance with
African-Americans in the Quest for Racial Justice.
Available from Human Rights Watch
Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United
States
and
Incarcerated America
Available from Policy Matters Ohio
Selective Celling: Inmate Population in Ohio’s Private Prisons
and
Fact sheet regarding state and federal money spent on prisons
verses colleges
Published by the Justice Policy Institute
Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and
Corrections and its Impact on African American Men
Read news
articles related to racial justice.
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